Poems AND Poet Information
Poets.org - The Academy of American Poets
A treasure trove of information about American poets and their poetry. Try out the sound files to hear the poems being read out loud - sometimes even by the poets themselves!
Poetry Foundation - Poetry Tool
Search for information about poets or specific poems, or view articles. Great info.
Biographial information about many poets -- scroll to the bottom of those page for links to related sites and often to pages with poetry by that poet
Explores lives and work of 13 American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Hart Crane, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Elliot, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams
Poetry Everywhere - PBS
biographies of poets, including Coleridge, Dickinson, Eliot, Frost, Housman, Poe, Whitman
Specific Poetry Schools & Periods
Modern American Poetry (University of Illinois)
Don't miss this site if you have a 20th century American poet. The ones listed here have plenty of biographical and literary criticism. Some of the poets covered here include: Brooks, Clifton, Cummings, Eliot, Frost, Hughes, Lowell, Millay, Momaday, Moore, Sandburg, Whitman.
Includes the work of 7 living poets from around the world: Philip Levine, Seamus Heaney and Czeslaw Milosz, Yusef Komunyakaa, Robert Pinsky, Margaret Walker, and Richard Wilbur. Entry for each poet includes audio clips of the poet reading several poems, the poet's comments on the works, a photograph of the poet and any other information, texts of the poems, a critical biography of the poet prepared by a scholar familiar with the poet's work, and a short bibliography.
Covers the beat poets with biographical information, some of their works, photos, etc.
Brief biographies of each of the members of the famous early twentieth century group of writers and artists, as well as bibliographies for each author, and sources for more information about the group and its members. Includes Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and others.
Poems
Favorite Poem Project - Founded by Poety Laureate Robert Pinsky
Collection of 50 short video documentaries showcases individual Americans reading and speaking personally about poems they love. The videos have been regular features on PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and are a permanent part of the Library of Congress archive of recorded poetry and literature.
BBC Poetry Season - Contemporary and historic poets and poems, mostly British. Celebrity picks of their favorite poems and a an incredible archive from the BBC's past of poets talking about and reading their work. Some of the videos may not be available to watch in the US.
The Poetry Archive is a treasure-trove of English-language poets reading their own work. Some are historic recordings, some have been made specially for the Archive, ranging from Tennyson at the end of the 19th century through contemporary poets. You can browse by the name of the poet or poem, but also by theme or form
Poetry 180 List of Poems - A Poem a Day for American High Schools
Poems selected by Billy Collins, former American Poet Laureate
With thousands of poems by hundreds of authors, Bartleby.com offers one of the largest free collections of verse on the web. Mostly works from before 1920.
Organized by poet's name, or you can search for poems/poets.
Poets' Corner
The collection covers roughly 7,000 works by about 800 poets. All written before 1923. Some brief biographical information about some poets. Well indexed by subject, first line, and chronologically.
Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers
Website that accompanies a PBS special about a contemporary poetry festival. Features poetry with photos and sound files of the poet reading their own work by Mark Doty, Kurtis Lamkin, Coleman Barks, Amiri Baraka, Stanley Kunitz, Jane Hirshfield, Deborah Garrison, Lucille Clifton, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Galway Kinnell, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, and Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.
Search Tip: If you search on Google or Yahoo, try putting in the title of your story or poem, in quotes, with the words criticism, analysis or introduction (For example: "The road not taken" analysis).
Online Databases
Full-text literary works, including poems, short stories, novels, essays, plays and speeches.